Security systems, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,253,728, Telemetry System, (UHS Systems Pty Limited), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, include a plurality of customer terminals connected via a communication network to an intermediate supervision terminal having an associated database and a number of security company automation systems. The customer terminal may be adapted to interface a PSTN alarm system to a data communication network. Agency terminals may be included to adapt communications between the automation system and a data communication network. Each customer terminal is associated with at least one automation system, and the centralized database manages the distribution of traffic between each of the customer terminals and its corresponding automation systems.
The nature of databases means that use of the database to control these traffic flows may introduce delays in traffic flows and may also present a potential single point of failure. This is because of the complex structure of databases and the interlinking of the database fields. Thus a traffic flow control operation involves a large number of computer operations (flops). This in turn slows the operation and increases the possibility of the occurrence of an error or signalling network malfunction.
An example of a system that uses such a centralized server and database is given in iControl patent U.S. Pat. No. 8,335,842. The system described in this patent uses a network operations center facility to process communications and requires the customer terminals to obtain an assigned server address of the network operations center, and the customer terminals use this address in all subsequent communications.
FIG. 10 shows an alternative system of the prior art. This is a point to point arrangement as shown in which a customer terminal communicates directly over an IP or wide area wireless IP network, which may be cellular, to an IP enabled dialer receiver. While the simplicity of this arrangement improves its reliability and data security as sensitive service and customer data are contained in the edge devices, it lacks means to enable an operator of a dedicated communication system to locate faults in the communication system.
It is desirable to provide a communication system in which one or more of these disadvantages are mitigated.
It is also desirable to provide a communications system which facilitates communication between a user's mobile device and an associated customer terminal and supports additional facilities such as APIs, remote programming, control of home automation devices and remote video access.
It is desirable to provide a system and device which provides access to a data stream associated with a point-to-point communication system within a larger network for such purposes as management, fault location, provision of remote access to additional devices, and the like.
The following abbreviations are used in the description and drawings: AP—alarm panel
API—application programming interface
AT—agent terminal
AS—automation system
CDB—common database
CMC—communication management center
CMS—central monitoring station
CSG—central station gateway
CT—customer terminal
CTIDI—customer terminal identification information
DB—database
DR—dialler receiver
HTTPS—hypertext transfer protocol secure
I-DR—IP dialer receiver
I-AS—IP enabled automation system
IP—internet protocol
LAN—local area network
PR—proprietary router
PSTN—public switched telephone network
RFC—(Internet Taskforce) Request for Comment
RPS—remote programming software
TR—token register
UIDI—user identification information
URL—universal resource locator
VFNN—virtual full national number
VPN—virtual private network
WAN—wide area network
W-IP wireless IP network
WWW—world wide web